Tinnitus Update: Music Therapy

Music therapy may lessen effects of tinnitus.

The New York Times (1/5, D2, Fountain) reports that a group of German researchers have developed "a kind of music therapy" geared towards helping those afflicted with the ringing in the ears that often accompanies noise-related hearing loss. The phenomenon, called tinnitus, is thought to be related to a "reorganization of the auditory cortex." The researchers asked their subjects to listen to "a one-octave frequency band, centered on the frequency of the ringing experienced by the subject," and found improvements in those listened to the custom-notched music after a one year period.